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In the last post we looked at the first recommendations on post-recession branding. This second post looks at the final two recommendations, and adds a conclusion.

5. Fuel the fan club

This long-term approach was favoured by 90%+ of the panel, and involves engaging employees and loyal consumers, areas still un-tapped by many brands. A good example of engaging brand users is Jordans Cereals' re-vamp of their email newsletter and blog. By making these more inspiring and interesting the team have doubled the number of email subscribers to 80,000.

6. Growing the core

This was voted the most effective technique of the past 12 months, and remains a key growth strategy going forward. The advantage of this approach versus stretching into new markets is that the core is often where the brand has the strongest equity, and makes the most money. A good example is Knorr's launch of Stock Pots in France, UK and China. This innovative new jelly format is rejuvenating and modernising the core bouillon business.

7. Beware of stretching too soonThe importance of core brand growth during the recession was confirmed by 52% of our panel focusing on "selling more of existing products" in the last year, +8pts versus the pre-recession period. Extending the core range was flat at 36%. In contrast, stretch into new markets was down sharply (13% vs. 23%), as companies cut back on expensive new product development.

However, for the next 12 months the trend reverses sharply. 33% plan to focus on stretch, at the expense of selling more of existing products. This key form of growth drops back below even pre-recession levels.We support the need to start working on innovation now, to be ready for when the economy picks up. However, we advise against rushing back too fast into brand stretching, and neglecting the good work done on growing the core during the recession. Our recommendation is to keep the recession-enforced discipline of focusing on fewer, bigger ideas and to maintain growth efforts on the core business.

In conclusion, the research confirms that the long over-due changes forced on us by the recession are here to stay. The wake-up call has been to re-focus on the fundamentals of clear positioning, core growth and being distinctive. The wacth-out is not to go back to the bad old habits when the economy picks up, but rather remember the hard-earned lessons of the last 12 months.

We've had an amazing response to our survey on "Post-Recession Branding". Thanks to everyone who has already participated.

It really does feel like its time to start thinking about "what comes next" for brands. The launch of the research last week coincided with the European Commission's views that "the end of the recession is in sight" for 2010.

We'll keep the survey open for one more week. So, if you haven't yet joined in yet, please do take a minute to by clicking here; it only has 4 questions.

A year on from our research on "Recession-Proof Branding", we think its now time to look further ahead at how to lead brands out of the recession. Which of the changes to marketing that have happened are short-term fixes? And which will be long-term changes to the way we build brands?

As part of our research we have an 1 minute online survey that you can participate in by clicking here. We'll send an avant-premiere of the results to all those completing the survey.

Inspiration for this research came from Chris Middleton, of Futures Coaching, who I met last year speaking at a CEO Branding Conference in Taiwan. Chris rightly pointed out that we need to be thinking about "what comes next?" now, when we're in the shit.

Just think. How long do we think the recession will last? 12 months, or 18 months perhaps? And how long does it take to get a new product or service from ideas stage to market. Yup. 12-18 months, if you're fast. Much longer if you work in a complex service or tech business.

So, please do take a minute to do the survey; it only has 4 questions.